Pride Of Britain Watched By Almost Five Million Viewers

The Daily Mirror's Pride Of Britain Awards was a ratings winner with almost five million viewers on ITV – making the event bigger than the Baftas.

Hosted by Carol Vorderman, our 19th annual awards for the nation's unsung heroes attracted a peak audience of 4.8 million viewers on Tuesday night - its highest rating for three years. Once catch-up on-demand ratings have been calculated the ratings will go over five million.

The star-studded event, in which Prince William honoured Grenfell Tower firefighters and Manchester's NHS, won the TV ratings war with an average of 4.2m viewers in its peaktime two-hour slot.

It easily beat BBC1's Holby City and BBC2's Masterchef and was bigger than this year's TV Baftas which averaged 3.7m and the film Baftas with 3.9m.

Pride of Britain 2017, in partnership with TSB, also topped Twiiter, as the UK's most tweeted topic throughout the night, as viewers, including Jeremy Corbyn and Gary Lineker, took to social media to praise the winners and the show. More than 6million people viewed tweets with #PrideOf Britain hashtag.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who joined Prime Minister Theresa May for the first time on stage to honour heroic police officers who confronted terrorists in the London Bridge and Westminster attacks, tweeted during the show: "It was an honour to present a Pride of Britain award to PC Wayne Marques. His courage in the London Bridge attack represents the best of humanity."

Carol Vorderman said: “I cannot express what a privilege it has been to be a part of Pride of Britain for all of its years. I was in bits watching tonight. Our winners touch our humanity. Let's hope by knowing them we want to become better people ourselves.”

Daily Mirror editor Peter Willis, who founded the Pride of Britain Awards in 1999, said: "It's great to know that so many viewers across the country wanted to join us in celebrating the very best of Britain. From members of the emergency services and the NHS to courageous children and inspiring campaigners, our winners were an amazing array of unsung heroes who truly deserve national recognition and praise."